10 Best Sports Movies Of The 21st Century

Released: 2011

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%

Based on a true story, Moneyball focuses on Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the general manger of the Oakland Athletics baseball team and the person responsible for building a team capable of competing with richer clubs, but on an extremely tight budget. Without spoiling it too much for those who may not yet have seen the film, Beane tears up the blueprint for signing players in baseball. Rather than chasing big name players, Beane looks to sign players based on statistics and basically creates a new system that receives negative views from baseball experts such as coaches, pundits and scouts.

Moneyball differs from other sport films in the sense that it steers away from tradition. Rather than focusing on the baseball games itself, instead the film focuses on the construction of the team, the decisions taken, the faith in the system and the negativity from those on the outside looking in.

And though the prospect of watching a two-hour film about baseball may seem like a daunting task for most, Moneyball is the absolute exception, buoyed by brilliant performances, an astonishing good script and real, human emotion that cuts through the maths and the jargon. For non-sports fans, it's even easy to forget that's even the focus.

Which of these movies do you think deserves to be the gold medal winner? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.